Employees working for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services made, on average, twice as much handling non-English Obamacare inquiries compared to clerks speaking English, according to documents obtained by ProEnglish.
The Freedom of Information Act request was secured by ProEnglish, a self-proclaimed advocate for the English language as "America’s common, unifying language" and adoption of English as "the official language at all levels of government."
The documents obtained showed "English-speaking clerks only earned $12 per hour while translators are paid $22.75 per hour plus a monthly deferential of $643."
Along with the pay disparity, documents highlighted nearly 12 percent of the awarded contract of $90 million went specifically to the "Spanish-language aspect of phone-enrollment assistance" as well as a separate contract of $1.4 million aimed at "securing the endorsement of a Spanish-speaking celebrity to promote Obamacare."
A January 2014 piece by CNN asserted the Obama administration was "banking on the support of the Hispanic community, with its large numbers of young and uninsured, to help make the President’s signature health care reform law a success."
These findings follow multiple FOIA requests secured by ProEnglish including an October 2013 report that HHS had spent more than $44 million in taxpayer funds on Obamacare since the law had been passed.